The district court in the Dutch city of The Hague on Friday rejected out of hand a petition filed by political organizations in the country calling for a ban on exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.
"The minister's considerations have a large extent of a political policy-making character, and judges should leave ministers a great deal of freedom in this respect," the judge's ruling said. The organizations that filed the petition, including the local branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam, argued that the supply of parts, manufactured and stored in the Netherlands for the United States, is being used to violate international law in Israel's war against Hamas.
"These pieces allow real bombs to be dropped on real homes and real families," said Michael Cervas, a representative of Oxfam, an international pacifist organization registered in the Netherlands. The Dutch authorities clarified that since the parts were manufactured as part of an international program to manufacture fighter jets, the Netherlands may not have a legal mandate to prevent exports to Israel.
The Dutch government issued a brief statement in response to the petition, saying: "Based on the information we have about Israel's use of F-35 fighter jets, there is no proof that they are involved in a significant violation of international laws of war."
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